Bavadin is first referenced in The Letter. The Letter's author, Hoid, has a grudge against Bavadin and Rayse.[4] It is unclear whether Bavadin and Rayse are allies, or the Letter author has a different reason to have a grudge against Bavadin. Bavadin is widely worshiped on Taldain; some peoples worship entire pantheons in which every member is actually an aspect of Autonomy.[5]

Bavadin is also referenced by Khriss in her notes on the Taldain system. Khriss writes that Bavadin supports a policy of strict isolationism for Taldain (to the detriment of Taldanian expatriates), while simultaneously being willing to meddle in the affairs of other worlds. Khriss also identifies Bavadin using female pronouns [6], though Bavadin appears in many different personas on Taldain.[5]

Autonomy is able to create avatars, personas that can act independently from Autonomy. Avatars can have any gender or race and some don't have human appearances.[5] Avatars are considered to be Shards of Adonalsium, in a way.[8] Autonomy can create avatars on Shardworlds without physically visiting them.[9]

With this, Autonomy has created several male personas, and has often appeared as male for one purpose or another. She has more female personas than male ones. There are some people who worship entire pantheons where every member is actually Autonomy. She prefers to allow her avatars to become the focus of attention.[5]